


Hard Science

by KaizenKitty



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambition, Awkward Romance, Canon-Typical Behavior, Comedy, Conflict, Conversations, Cute, Drama, Drama & Romance, During Canon, Economics, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gay Shishiou Tsukasa, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Politics, Post-Apocalypse, Power Dynamics, Power Play, Romantic Comedy, Sneakiness, Teenage Drama, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26277844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaizenKitty/pseuds/KaizenKitty
Summary: Tsukasa was actually flirting with Senku when he praised him to his face. The gay AU no one asked for.
Relationships: Ishigami Senkuu/Shishiou Tsukasa, Ogawa Yuzuriha/Ooki Taiju
Comments: 16
Kudos: 119
Collections: Gay Fanfiction





	1. definition

"I heard that."

Senku stilled, poised over a pot with mushrooms and water. Taiju was away gathering firewood. It was just him and Tsukasa at the camp.

"Don't worry," he felt the other man's presence approach him from behind. Locks of Tsukasa's long thick hair rested on his shoulder. "I'm no sex crazed wannabe tyrant."

A nervous chuckle escaped Senku's throat. "That was just a joke."

The taller man stepped around him, entering Senku's line of view. A small amused smile played on Tsukasa's full lips. "Just thought I should clarify. I'm not particularly interested in Taiju's woman." At this he flicked his head over to where Yuzuriha's petrified form lay resting.

Senku frowned.

Tsukasa's smile widened. "Or any woman for that matter."

At this point Senku's eyes must have comically bulged out of his eye sockets, because Tsukasa burst out laughing. It was a hearty laugh, a natural one that did not feel forced. Still laughing, Tsukasa sat down on the other side of their makeshift fireplace, facing Senku. It was unnerving how the muscled giant kept looking at him, even as his laughter died down.

"I noticed you like being in charge, the one giving orders, calling the shots," Tsukasa said quietly but firmly, while toying with one of his hair locks and looking Senku dead in the eye.

"Do you take issue with how I handle things?" Senku tried to keep his voice cool and calm, void of any emotion. He needed to show this guy that he was _not_ easily intimidated.

"No. Just an observation."

Senku grinned, but it felt more like a defensive grimace. "Observation, huh? Typically men don't voice their observations unless there's something they're trying to say."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point, then. You take some sort of sadistic glee in all the unfortunate events that occurred, because these circumstances have given you the chance to rule."

All pretenses of a smile were wiped from Senku's face. He was back to glaring defiantly and suspiciously at the primate high-schooler. Wind rustled the leaves up above them, making shadows dance over Tsukasa. There was a twinkle in his arched eyes.

"Without the disaster that turned everyone to stone, you'd still be an ordinary high school boy, not much different from the millions of other high schoolers. Sure, perhaps a bit smarter than average, but still. You wouldn't be special. There was nothing exceptional about you. You would have been treated just like the rest. No one would have listened to you or taken orders from you. But in this primitive world, you are King. Taiju worships you. He kisses the ground you walk on."

It felt like the temperature dropped by ten degrees. Senku fought off a shiver. He hadn't thought he was _that easy_ to figure out, but here they were. Tsukasa had barely known him for a week, and he was already psychoanalyzing him, and painting a disturbingly _accurate_ picture. The man was smarter than he looked. _Ridiculously_ overpowered! Having brawn, brute force, _and_ a functioning _brain!_ This was scary...

When Senku forced a smile on his lips, it felt more like a cringe. "Are you trying to suggest that _I_ am an evil cut-throat wannabe tyrant?"

Tsukasa chuckled. "Evil," he tilted his head to one side, looked Senku up and down, " _nahh._ Cut-throat?" he winked. "Is that even a question?" Then Tsukasa tilted his head back and took a long theatrical pause. "Wannabe tyrant?" he puckered his lips smugly, "Hmmmmm......"

Senku sent him a flat stare of the universally known 'not amused' type. He got back to his cooking. "I'm just stepping up to the plate when _no one else is_ ," he grumbled under his breath, "doing what has to be done." With a wooden ladle he crushed two wild mushrooms to a pulp, muddying the water. "Do you think _I'm enjoying this?_ I could be _taking precollege classes_ if it weren't for this shit! I _could be_ learning _more_ about aerospace _engineering._ But _no,_ my bad. A chunk of _rock_ had to go and encase Fresnel _everything,_ launching our society right back into the stone age!" Senku clicked his tongue. "If I want to go to Mars, I'll have to do it all by myself."

"Here, let me help." Tsukasa's hand was over Senku's, gently draped around the ladle. Senku froze.

Tsukasa's hand held a warmth Senku had not felt in ages. Like a small fire was burning inside the palm of that hand, projecting outward, the rays of a benevolent nurturing sun. He let Tsukasa's hand guide the ladle around, his own hand going limp and soft in Tsukasa's firm grasp. And _naturally_ Taiju chose _that moment_ to return to camp. His best friend's footsteps could be heard from behind a thicket of shrubbery, coming closer. The big oaf was singing a love song... scaring all the birds away.

Senku discreetly cleared his throat and cast a meaningful glance at Tsukasa's face. But the giant did not let go. Senku attempted it again, this time softly kicking at Tsukasa's shin. The other man only smiled mysteriously at him. Senku let out a groan of frustration. Taiju could _not_ see them _like this!_ Holding hands. What the _crod?!_

Too late.

Carrying two bundles of sticks under his armpits, Taiju had walked past the shrub, and into the clearing where they stood. Holy Covid-19! Senku's heart leapt into his throat, grew wings and flew right out of his mouth, never to be seen again, at the thought of his best friend catching him doing something _this.... Gay!_

If there was a homicidal maniac prawling somewhere around these woods, Senku hoped they would kill him _right now._

"Hey Senku! Tsukasa! I'm baaaaack!! Found a looohot of wood!" Taiju's eyes had turned to arches. He wore a beaming smile and gazed up at the sky.

Tsukasa smirked.

"That's uhhh, that's uhh nice Taiju," Senku coughed, swallowed, feeling the sweat run down the back of his neck.

Taiju set the bundles of faggots down, still smiling broadly, his eyes still blissfully half-closed. He _still_ hadn't noticed, _hadn't_ noticed, hadn't _noticed!!_ Taiju turned his back to them, stretched, sang that sappy pop song again, while lovingly staring at the stone statue that was their childhood friend Yuzuriha...

Then it dawned on Senku! Taiju _wasn't_ looking at them! He _only_ had eyes _for Yuzuriha._

Well.... shit. He'd gotten all worked up for nothing. Of _course_ Taiju wouldn't care, seriously, Senku berated himself. He felt like _such a moron._ Since _when_ was _he_ one to let _feelings_ get the better of him? To cloud his reasoning and dull his logic.... This _didn't make sense,_ this _wasn't him._ It wasn't like him at all. And yet he couldn't help himself feel _weirdly_ comforted when Tsukasa's thumb rubbed soothing patterns into the back of his hand. For lack of a better word, it felt... nice.

Things carried on as normal after that. They had mushroom soup for dinner, talked about their plans for tomorrow (or, Senku talked, while the others listened), and got ready for bed. But when it was time for him to lie down on the tatami mat between Taiju and Tsukasa, ...Senku couldn't do it. He excused himself under the pretext of 'going for a night walk', and then shut himself in his lab, where he paced for about an hour, mulling over all the things Tsukasa had said about him.

 _Sure,_ he was ambitious and driven. But _cut-throat?_ Cut-throat really took the cake. How could _anything_ Senku had _ever_ done be considered ruthless or aggressive? Did he _really_ give off _that vibe??_ And if so, was he _happy_ about Tsukasa seeing him that way, ...or did he want to _change_ Tsukasa's perception of him? To _show_ Tsukasa that _there was more to him!_ To _show_ another side of himself. And why?

Why did it matter what that big chested musclehead thought of him? As long as Tsukasa helped rebuild civilization, that was all that mattered. Feeling satisfied with this conclusion, Senku climbed back up into the treehouse, and crawled under the blanket between his two friends. Pffff, he _wasn't gay._ It was just a momentary moment of confusion because there _weren't_ any sharp-witted ladies in the nearest vicinity. Yeah, that was it. With this newfound revelation, Senku drifted off to sleep.

He did not find reason to revisit those thoughts until later that week, when both him and Tsukasa went out to explore the area, leaving Taiju behind to guard the base. Senku had fashioned a crossbow out of wood and some rope. He was pointing it at every shadow, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Do you believe we're the only ones?" Tsukasa conversationally asked. "Like, there were no others who woke up, perhaps decades, maybe centuries earlier than we did?"

Senku shrugged, remaining on edge, his eyes following every small movement in the grass. He aimed his crossbow at some rustling in the shadows, ...but it was just a frog.

"I don't know," he admitted. "And even if they did, nothing in this overgrown landscape points to them having been successful. They might have been eaten by lions for all we know, or frozen to death. If we're not careful enough, we might end up just like 'em."

"Hmmm... You ever think what happened to us could have been the result of a nuclear explosion?"

"Doubt it." Senku clicked his tongue at a squirrel that ran past. "We _wouldn't_ have survived _that._ Not to mention it does _not_ account for our physical bodies being so well preserved over thousands of years."

Tsukasa bobbed his head, lifting his hand to thoughtfully rub at his own chin.

"Geomagnetic reversal? That could explain why the swallows got hit by it _first."_

Senku rolled his eyes. "And what about _all the other birds?"_

There was a bit of a silence as they just walked through the forest side by side, until Tsukasa spoke.

"5G Internet?"

Senku stopped dead in his tracks. "Are you _trying_ to piss me off?"

The gym bunny had the audacity to laugh. "Awww, don't be like that. I was just trying to lift the mood." He stretched one arm out and lightly stroked Senku's cheek with one finger. "What can I do to make that frown turn upside down? Hmm?"

Time stopped. Senku felt his heart hammer in his chest, and the way sunlight fell on Tsukasa's long and girly eyelashes was _not helping._

"Hmmm... Are you okay Senku? You look rather pale." Tsukasa looked and sounded genuinely concerned.

"Mmm fine," Senku stammered out, staring at the forest floor.

Tsukasa's finger came to its logical conclusion just under Senku's chin, and fell from his face. Two conflicting feelings surfaced. One: get this strange man away from me. Two: wonder what it would be like if that finger would tip my chin up and Tsukasa would lean down to kiss me...oh wait. Gay, _that_ was certainly gay. (Very gay, if Mecha Senku might add.) _Oh shut up!_

The rest of their 'exploration' hike around the forest, Senku kept asking himself _why_ he'd never felt this way for Taiju... It's not like Taiju was bad on the eyes, or anything... Sure he _was_ a little loud, but _that_ didn't make him any less of a loyal friend, didn't make him any less reliable. What _was it_ with romantic attraction? And _why_ had he set his eye on _Tsukasa_ of all people?!

"So what was your life like _before petrification?"_ Taiju casually asked Tsukasa that evening as they all sat around the fire.

The giant shrugged. "Oh. The usual. I was in my senior year of high school, just months away from graduating."

At that Taiju nodded enthusiastically. "Same man, same!"

"Really? What were your plans? Like what were you intending to do after finishing school?"

Taiju lifted and dropped his shoulder. "Dunno," he said around a large chunk of charred meat in his mouth. "Maybe get a job doing deliveries? I hear Rakuten pays good."

Tsukasa tilted his head from side to side, pursing his lips. "Those food delivery companies were a total scam. They massively underpaid their employees."

Taiju scooted forward on the log he sat on, leaning in closer. "What! Really??"

"Yeah. I made on-foot deliveries for Maishoku as an after school job. And they screwed me over so bad I was late on rental payments for _three months."_

Taiju spit out his food. " _What?_ You had to pay _rent?"_

Tsukasa nodded calmly. "Sometimes the prize money I won in cage fights wasn't enough to cover the rent," he shrugged, _"so_ I had to work an after school job. I combined the deliveries with my workout routine. All that running was great for my stamina."

"No," Taiju raised his hands. "I mean like, ...you lived _alone?"_

Tsukasa shrugged again. This time he looked down at the bowl of food in his lap, effectively hiding his face behind a veil of hair. "It's not a big deal. I'm eighteen years old."

"Yeah," Taiju bit his lip, "...but still." After swallowing the bits of wild goose he had been chewing on, he spoke. "I was still living at home, with my parents. And we're the same age. Heh, maybe you think I'm lame for still living with my mom..."

"No, not at all." Tsukasa smiled at him warmly. "I think it's great you had such a good relationship with your parents."

"So _then..."_

Senku chose this moment to cut in. "What are you, a paparazzo? If he doesn't want to say _why_ he moved out, he _doesn't_ have to."

Taiju turned beet red in the face and hurriedly apologized to Tsukasa.

The other man just chuckled. "It's quite alright. I can imagine people being confused when they hear my story. I'm not ashamed to tell it, either. Just that it's rather long and I wouldn't want to bore you with all the mundane details." With a fond smile Tsukasa gazed at the tropical forest around them. "Long story short, my dad kicked me out for being gay."

Senku's jaw dropped.

"I was sixteen years old at the time. Already making some money from kickboxing tournaments, so I called my coach and crashed at his place that first week. Until I found a decent place to rent. Naturally it was all very illegal; cash only, one week notice kind of thing. I was too young to legally rent a place to live."

"Jesus..." Taiju stared at their new friend in awe.

"Well, I can say this experience _did_ toughen me up, so it was not all that bad. Worse things could've happened. At least I'm still alive." Tsukasa knocked back a cup of wine. "So where did you guys pick up all these wilderness survival skills?" he gestured at the fireplace, the clay pot cooking utensils, the lab, the treehouse above.

"Oh! Haha, it was all Senku's doing. Really, I couldn't do a thing! He taught me literally _everything."_

With a curious gaze Tsukasa turned toward Senku.

"Most of my knowledge was theoretic before I got here," Senku admitted. "The topics of engineering, geography, chemistry, biology, medicine, astronomy and physics interested me greatly. And I studied these topics in depth. But until now, my knowledge had never been put to the test," he cracked his neck, flexing his shoulders. "I've had to adapt and learn on the fly. Been here for well over a year now."

Tsukasa stared at him. In those eyes there was both understanding, and a sense of inconsolable yearning. That made Senku uncomfortable. He shifted on the log, letting his eyes trail over the campsite, so he wouldn't have to look that handsome giant in the eye. The three of them finished their dinner, cleaned up, and went to bed. And again, Senku _couldn't sleep._ Only this time, he noticed Tsukasa wasn't sleeping either. The two men stared at each other in the dark, their silence punctuated by Taiju's loud snoring.

Eventually Tsukasa reached out and rested his left hand on Senku's hip, on top of the blanket.

Senku felt his face heat up. "Taiju _will notice,"_ he pointed.

Tsukasa had a small amused smile on his lips. "So what if he does?"

And Senku didn't really know what to say in response to _that._ All he knew was he _wasn't_ as confident in his own sexuality as Tsukasa seemed to be. Perhaps that was a thing that came with experience?

"How many..." Senku started, then stopped. "How many partners have you had?"

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow. "What does it matter?"

Senku sighed. "I'm not trying to judge, I'm just... _not_ used to this?"

"Hmmm. Hard to picture _you_ never having had any admirers."

A short ragged laugh escaped Senku's throat. "I turned them all down."

"Like you're doing now, with me?" Tsukasa winked.

Senku rested his own hand on top of Tsukasa's. "There's never been _anyone_ like _you."_


	2. lemma

"The scars on your face kindof make you look like a cheetah."

Senku raised his eyebrows, looking up from the rabbit trap he was setting. "Gee, _thanks."_

Tsukasa chuckled, maneuvered around where Senku sat on the forest floor, and tugged on a strap. "Seems about right. So, we having rabbit for dinner?"

Senku shrugged, dusting off his tunic as he stood up. " _If_ it takes the bait."

Curiously Tsukasa peered over Senku's shoulder. "Dandelion leaves?"

"Can't afford to give them much else."

"Right."

They both walked back to camp, walking side by side. Every now and then a lock of Tsukasa's hair would brush Senku's right shoulder. His right elbow shivered each time it happened. Once their base was in sight, Senku stopped in his tracks. Tsukasa also slowed down to a halt when he noticed Senku was not coming with him. He sent a questioning look Senku's way.

"Were you... seeing anyone before we all got turned to stone?"

A frown appeared on Tsukasa's brow. "Do I seem the type? To start something _with you_ when I have a boyfriend?"

Senku scratched the back of his neck. "No, I... I'm just trying to make sure this is something you really want."

" _Why_ wouldn't it be?" said Tsukasa softly, coming closer. Now both of his large hands were on Senku's shoulders, his arms like the walls of a house around them. The space between them just like an intimate cave, where only soft words could be exchanged.

Senku bit his lip. "Err ...I'm not exactly the most handsome man on the planet. With your looks, you could have _anyone_ you wanted. _Don't settle_ for less when we can _easily_ revive _hundreds_ of pretty guys, and you can have your pick. Statistically speaking, I'm sure at least twenty of them could be gay, ...or bi."

An easy smile slipped onto Tsukasa's kissable lips. "I don't care about that."

All Senku could do was blink at him.

"What matters is here," Tsukasa patted the left side of his own chest, " _here,"_ then he placed the same hand on Senku's beating heart.

"The heart is just a muscle," Senku grumbled while blushing and looking away. "It doesn't impact the way you feel, and says exactly nothing about your moral fiber."

" _Technicalities,"_ Tsukasa grinned. "You know what I mean."

The hand on Senku's chest toyed with a top button of his tunic. The collar came loose, exposing more of Senku's neck and shoulders. Tsukasa's hand slipped inside, pinching and rubbing in all the right spots, giving him the massage he so sorely needed. And Senku turned to putty in the strong man's arms.

"I noticed you and Tsukasa get along swimmingly," Taiju said at dinner, when Tsukasa had gone to take a leak.

Senku spat out his wine. In a slow movement he reluctantly turned his head up and faced his best friend. "You think so?" he forced a smile, hardly able to keep the shakiness out of his voice.

"Yeah! I think it's great." Taiju took a long hearty draught of the grape wine. "I'd always thought you were ace, ha! But I guess this makes sense. Tsukasa is a great guy!"

Senku spat out his wine _again._ He pointed a shaky finger at Taiju. "You... you _knew?"_

Taiju scratched his chin while looking away and smiling awkwardly. "Well uhh, it's not like you guys were hiding it. Anyway, I'm happy if you're happy." Taiju raised his half empty cup of wine. "And I think it's cause to celebrate!"

Hurriedly Senku raised his own cup and clinked their cups together. Then he drank. Greedily down to the last drop. This warm sensation in his stomach was strange, one he'd never quite felt before.

"We need to hurry up and revive more people," Senku muttered to himself.

"Hell yeah!" Taiju pumped his fist.

Senku dragged a hand through his hair. "I'm going crazy here with just you two..."

It didn't take them long to make enough nital for another human. Tsukasa seemed particularly interested in the finer details of this process. Once they had the liquid, Senku watched on fondly as Taiju fussed around with the dress, putting it on the stone statue.

"So we just pour it on her? That how it works?" Tsukasa asked, peering inside the clay vial Senku was holding.

"Hold on. _Not just yet!"_ Taiju cried out, his attempts at fixing the dress around his girlfriend's naked stone body getting all the more frantic.

Senku couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, pretty much. Even one part of the stone being exposed to nital should set off a chain reaction, breaking down the entire structure."

Tsukasa rubbed his chin. His eyes were glued to the stone formula. "That's some powerful stuff."

Senku shrugged. "Commonly used for etching metals. And potentially _explosive_ if stored within a closed container. It's why I prefer to mix the nitric acid with alcohol _right before_ use. That way I avoid the storage problem," he waved his hand. "By storing them separately."

Tsukasa nodded. His brows were pinched and his eyes narrowed, like he was mentally taking notes.

Some fifteen minutes later, Taiju caught a fainting Yuzuriha in his arms. It was all very cute and romantic. They talked a little, Yuzuriha looked happy to see them all, and then Taiju helped her up into the treehouse, so she could rest.

Senku exchanged a look with Tsukasa. "What do you say me and you take a stroll across the beach? Give those two love birds some privacy."

And walk along the beach they _did;_ more like make out on the beach. Both Tsukasa and Senku were breathless as they rolled on their backs, staring up at a darkening sky.

"We should head back," Senku giggled. "That big oaf will start getting worried."

Tsukasa suggestively raised and dropped his eyebrows. "You don't think they'd love a little _alone time,_ after all those years?"

" _What?_ Pffffff, no!" Senku laughed. "Their relationship is lightyears away from getting physical."

"Oh," Tsukasa smirked, carding his fingers through Senku's hair. "Then I pity him."

"Haha _hahaha,_ don't say that!" Senku playfully slapped Tsukasa's bicep.

"I've been meaning to ask, ...what's up with the spring onion hair? Is it a dye job?"

Senku tugged at one strand of his own hair. "I have albinism."

"Ahh."

"Figured I'd touch up the ends of my hair with a little green. And I guess the petrification process made that permanent."

"Hmmmm.."

"Could've been worse," Senku snorted. "I could've ended up with _pink_ hair."

Tsukasa pouted. "There's nothing wrong with the color pink."

" _What?_ So you'd rather have me with motherducking _pink_ hair!?"

"No!" Tsukasa squeaked. "That's not what I'm trying to say _at all!"_ he waved his arms around for emphasis.

Senku doubled over laughing. By now it was _really_ getting late. The first stars started appearing in the night sky. The two hauled ass back to camp, to find Yuzuriha and Taiju busy cooking dinner.

"See? What did I say?" Senku whispered, spreading his arms smugly.

Unsurprisingly, Yuzuriha was a better cook than all the boys combined.

She grinned, handling a wooden spatula like a weapon. "Guess who went on many camping trips with their parents? Ha! This girl," she announced proudly, pointing the spatula at her chest.

Taiju looked proud. Senku and Tsukasa shared a look, and came to the unspoken agreement to keep their mouth shut. The food was heavenly.

"So the plan is to rebuild civilization from the ground up?" Yuzuriha asked, her eyes wide and earnest.

Senku nodded. "We don't really have much of a choice," he smirked. "If we _don't_ do it, our sun is gonna expand in about four point nine billion years and swallow our planet up whole. That's why humans need to develop science. To either stop it from happening, or to hightail it out of here once our sun explodes."

Yuzuriha shivered in fear, hiding behind her soup bowl. Taiju comfortingly rubbed her shoulder.

A thoughtful look crossed Tsukasa's face. "You're so concerned with what will happen to future generations? When you're no longer around?"

Senku lifted and dropped one shoulder. "Science always is."

"Yes but," Tsukasa stroked his full bottom lip with his large thumb. "Why do you _care?"_

Senku frowned. "Scientific advancements are _not_ something that happens overnight. It's a painstakingly slow process that gets handed down from generation to generation. And each one of us puts in the work. No one human is smart enough to unravel all the mysteries of the universe. But together, we have a pretty good shot." He clenched his fist, smiling triumphantly. Then the smile dropped from his face. In a solemn voice Senku said: "This petrification set us back by nearly four thousand years. We humans won't be able to make it in time if we don't catch up."

Tsukasa puckered his lips in thought. "And that means sending people to Mars."

"That's where we were _before_ petrification. We weren't quite _there_ yet, but it was a viable option. After all, reaching other planets is the first step to traveling outside of our solar system."

Tsukasa shook his head, smiling. "Forgive me, but I can't imagine space travel being our first priority."

Senku smirked. "It's not."

"Oh _thank God!"_ Taiju drawled out.

They all laughed.

Yuzuriha spoke up. Her voice held a lot of compassion. "Our first priority is saving people, right? Breaking them free from the stone."

Taiju, Senku and Tsukasa nodded. "Right," they all said in unision.

With that came the important question.

Senku clapped his hands on his knees. "Okay. Whom do we revive next?"

Yuzuriha raised her hand before any of the men could say something.

"Yeah?" Senku asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Can you bring back my parents? I have a pretty good idea of where they are."

"Yeah!" Taiju cut in, leaning forward. "Let's bring back my parents too!"

Senku blinked, observing all his friends' faces. Yuzuriha looked worried, Taiju looked ecstatic, Tsukasa's expression was unreadable. Senku hummed. "That shouldn't be a problem, as long as we can find them."

Both Taiju and Yuzuriha squealed in delight at that, hugging each other like happy kids. Senku snorted, a soft smile on his lips as he watched them cheer.

Tsukasa leaned in sideways, closer to Senku. "You're not going to bring back _your_ parents?"

For a split second Senku just seemed confused. Then a sad smile appeared on his lips. "I'm not sure I _can."_

Tsukasa frowned. "Meaning...?"

"Without a monthly boost from its thrusters, the International Space Station can only remain in orbit for at most 15 months. Then it will crash land into the earth, while being burned by the atmosphere, finally reaching the ground as chunks of debris. The Station will run out of oxygen a lot sooner than that. If my old man got turned to stone along with the rest of us, he didn't have much of a chance to escape."

Tsukasa said nothing in response. He only placed his large hand over Senku's on the log. They sat like that, for the longest time, just looking at each other. Flames from the campfire lit up the sides of their faces.

"What about your mom?" Tsukasa asked at long last.

"Don't have one," Senku shrugged. "What about yours?"

Tsukasa twisted his lips in disgust. "She's the one who said we had to take my baby sister Mirai off life support."


	3. corollary

The office building where they should find Yuzuriha's mom looked more like a gigantic trellis of lengthy vines. Senku shook his head when he saw how the entrance to the stairwell shaft was overgrown with creepers. The stairwell shaft had been remodeled into a grass green tunnel only a child would fit through.

"Well, fuck." Taiju eloquently said.

"My mom is on the tenth floor."

They all shared a look.

"There's no way around it," Senku said. "We either craft a sharp knife and slice a path through that stairwell, _or..."_

Tsukasa cut him off. "Or we scale the building from the outside."

They all craned their necks and _stared_ up at the dark vertical wall covered in plant matter.

Senku gulped. "What floor did you say she was on again?"

"Tenth," Yuzuriha whimpered in a small voice.

Tsukasa studied the wall, tracing his hands over its base, tugging at the vines to check how well they were attached. When he was done with his inspections, he turned back to them and said: "I can climb that high. Yuzuriha, would you recognize your mother's petrified shape if you saw her?"

She nodded.

"Do you trust me?" This time Tsukasa looked from Yuzuriha to Taiju, and back.

Taiju frowned, but sent him a stiff nod. Yuzuriha nodded vigorously. "Absolutely!"

"Okay," Tsukasa said in a soft tone, looking Yuzuriha directly in the eye. "I can take you up there, and I can take both you _and_ your mother back down, one at a time."

"Do it," Yuzuriha said, her face set in determined lines.

Tsukasa knelt on the ground before her, facing away. "This is the part where you climb onto my back. Hold on tight," he warned her. "Don't let go."

When she had done just that, he rose to his feet, compensating for the off-balance by leaning a bit forward. Tsukasa smiled, and gave Senku and Taiju a wave. Then he turned his focus to the building, and started the climb, one little footstep at a time.

"Wow..." Taiju marveled once the others were out of earshot. "Your boyfriend is _something else."_

"Well _duh._ He's _my_ boyfriend."

Secretly Senku was also very impressed by all the things Tsukasa could do, ...but he was not about to let that show. Not in front of Taiju. The last thing he needed was to lose his best friend to this hunk of a man. Senku was no charmer. He didn't have Tsukasa's natural charisma. He knew his personality was kinda repulsive at best. (Which _really_ made him wonder _just what_ Tsukasa saw in him, ...but that was beside the point.) Taiju _didn't need_ any more encouragement to _stan_ Tsukasa. He was already a fan (apparently, having seen Tsukasa's boxing matches on livestreams before all this), and now with each passing day Taiju was noticing more and more what a decent guy Tsukasa was. It didn't take a genius to understand that if there ever was any conflict between Senku and Tsukasa, Taiju would pick the side he liked best. The solution seemed trivial: keep Tsukasa and Taiju apart, stir up antagonistic feelings between them, divide and conquer. Senku could not afford to lose Taiju, not in a place like this, not when he depended on him for survival.

Half an hour later Tsukasa climbed down using only one hand, with the stone statue of a middle aged woman under his arm. He deposited the statue in Taiju's waiting hands, then climbed up again to get Yuzuriha. Senku watched Tsukasa's lithe body weave between the vines. He watched those powerful muscles clench and unclench, followed by the carefree twirl of the man's long brown hair. Seeing this display of true strength made him actually wonder _how_ this man was his boyfriend? Just _what_ had Senku done to get _this lucky??_ Thinking like that made him kind of scared. Made him fear that this little arrangement they had going was something he would lose.

They carried Yuzuriha's mom back to the base first, (or well... Taiju carried her while the others just walked), and set her down securely under the tree, before setting out to look for Yuzuriha's dad. This time the person was supposed to be at a construction site. Senku had a bad feeling about this, but he did not voice his concerns.

"What did you think of when you were encased in stone?" Yuzuriha asked Tsukasa, smiling brightly.

The giant tilted his head to one side. "Many different things, the people I knew back then," he pursed his lips, "martial arts technique," he raised his eyebrows. "I even meditated at one point. What did you do to pass the time?" he asked her with a smile.

"Aahhh," Yuzuriha sweatdropped.

Ten billion percent chance she had been thinking of Taiju. Senku smirked, observing the furious blush on Taiju's face.

Yuzuriha giggled. "I've been thinking of what Taiju could possibly have wanted to tell me right before it happened," she sent her boyfriend a sly look, and Taiju promptly melted on the spot.

_Yup,_ they'd been thinking of each other.

"Hey, is this the place?" Taiju pointed at a spot behind Tsukasa, effectively changing the topic. "Kind of looks like a building site, don't you think?"

They all turned around. Mounds of stone and various building materials were piled up around several shoddy looking ruins. Machinery like excavators, cement mixers, and bulldozers were haphazardly strewn in between. Human figures were scattered all around the site. One stone man's legs were encased in solid cement. Senku grimaced.

"Do you know where your dad would be?" Taiju asked softly.

"Yeah," Yuzuriha clasped his hand, and led the way inside the stone jungle.

Senku followed with trepidation. And Tsukasa noticed that. "Is something wrong?" he leaned down to whisper close to Senku's ear.

"See for yourself," Senku inclined his head toward his childhood friends.

Yuzuriha had stopped in her tracks. She looked horrified. In front of her feet lay a fallen tower crane. Underneath it, lay the petrified body of a middle aged man, broken in two pieces.

" _Dad,"_ Yuzuriha sobbed, staring at the stonified form.

Taiju let her cry on his shoulder. With spirits low they made the trek back to camp.

"We should hurry up and find _your parents too,"_ Yuzuriha said over dinner, patting Taiju's knee. _'Before it's too late,'_ the unspoken words rang through the camp.

And so next morning they set out early to do just that. When the flash of green light hit the world, Taiju's parents had both been out of town, at an apple picking orchard. Taiju knew the exact address. With Tsukasa's input (his memory of the city plan from his delivery runs), they managed to pinpoint an approximate location. Senku used his makeshift sextant to help guide the way. The landscape had changed rather significantly over the last 3,719 years. They had to cross two small streams just to get there. And the place itself was a thicket of trees... a group of sika deer hurriedly galloped away as they approached, leaving half-eaten apples rolling over the ground.

"Wow!" Taiju exclaimed, raising one overripe apple from the ground and smiling at it. "Apples still grow here!! After thousands of years!"

Senku rolled his eyes. "Of course. It's an _apple orchard."_ Sometimes Taiju's mindless attitude to life _really_ got on his nerves. This was one of those times.

Tsukasa pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "So what do we do now?" he looked each one of them in the face. "How do we find two people in a forest?"

When no one else offered a solution, Senku stepped forward. "We split up in three teams. Yuzuriha and I have met Taiju's parents many times. We know what they look like. So, Yuzuriha will go with Tsukasa, and comb through the west side of the forest. I will go alone and comb through the east side. Taiju will take the center. That way, we'll find Taiju's parents in no time."

Everyone nodded.

Senku crackled his neck, looking up at the sky. "We'll regroup here when the sun brushes Mount Fuji."

Five hours later Senku returned to the meeting spot emptyhanded. He had seen many stone statues, but none of them resembled Taiju's mom and dad. To wait for the others he sat down on a log, and bit into an apple. It tasted good. Not long after he spotted Tsukasa and Yuzuriha walking towards him. Tsukasa was carrying the petrified form of a woman, and Yuzuriha carried a bag of apples. Both of them were smiling broadly.

"Sen _ku!_ Look!" Yuzuriha called out with laughter in her voice. "I picked some apples, since we're already here."

"Good thinking!" Senku called back.

When they came near, Tsukasa gently set down Taiju's mom on the log.

Senku smirked. "Guess we'll have to wait for Taiju. The big oaf probably got lost on his way back."

"Yeah," Tsukasa cast a thoughtful look at the darkening tree tops. "I hope you're right."

They had been waiting for nearly an hour when Senku took some steps toward the path he'd seen Taiju go down. "Something's not right."

Yuzuriha held her breath; the look on her face stricken with agony.

Tsukasa placed a hand on Senku's shoulder. "I'll go look for him."

Senku turned his neck and looked up at his boyfriend's face. "No. You stay here." He cast a look over at Yuzuriha, then made eye contact with Tsukasa. "Guard the women."

"What if something happens to you?" Tsukasa spoke with an angry frown.

Senku shrugged his hand off. "I'll manage just fine. I've been around for a year longer than you, and I lived fine on my own for six months before Taiju woke up. I'll call you if I see anything, really. Just, .... _stay_ here and wait till I get back."

Tsukasa didn't seem remotely pleased with that, but he backed off. " _Fine,_ just, don't make it too late, okay? Or we'll have to look _for you, too."_

Senku found his best friend at the first fork in the path. "Hey, there you are! Not far off from the meeting point," he clapped Taiju on the shoulder, making the other boy look up. "Did you find anything?"

Taiju shook his head. "No, nothing."

"Well, we'll look again tomorrow. Yuzuriha found your mom."

"She _did?!"_

"Yeah," Senku grinned, deliberately not mentioning Tsukasa's involvement in the matter. "Come on, they're all waiting for us."

They _didn't_ find Taiju's dad on the next day, _nor_ the day _after that._ Taiju started to lose hope after a week of endless searching. They had combed through each exposed square meter of the forest floor.

"He could be buried under a layer of compost," Senku said, wiping the sweat off his brow as he collapsed on a log. " _You were."_

Tsukasa paced about the clearing. "Logistically speaking, does that mean we dig up the entire forest?"

Senku rubbed at his chin. "Suppose we start around where you found Taiju's mom, and expand our efforts from there?"

They found Taiju's dad within a ten meter radius from where Taiju's mom had been. Senku breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the reassured smile on his best friend's face. That night they celebrated at the base. Taiju and Yuzuriha danced, while Tsukasa and Senku cozily sat by the fire, leaning into each other. They still didn't have enough revival fluid for another human being, but at least they now knew where Yuzuriha and Taiju's parents _were._ And then later they could get on with reviving all the random statues around them. That was the plan. Senku rested his head on Tsukasa's shoulder, and rubbed at the back of his own neck. It still felt a little numb.

"In a way," Tsukasa said gently against Senku's forehead, "we're sort of living in a primitive paradise right now."

Senku snorted.

"You disagree?"

"I ain't calling it a paradise until I have access to a well equipped lab and a fast computer."

"Oh. _Right,_ your 'science'."

"It _isn't_ 'my science'," Senku grumbled, glaring up at him. "Science belongs _to all humanity."_

Tsukasa merely hummed. "You know what _also_ belongs to all humanity?"

"What?" Senku asked with a frown, genuinely puzzled.

"This," Tsukasa motioned his hand through the air.

"What do you mean?" Senku sat up, still remaining in Tsukasa's loose embrace.

"This, all of this. Imagine if we tried starting a bonfire back in our time. We'd need ten different permits on top of permits."

" _Yeeessss,"_ said Senku, "because fires can be dangerous, and if started by the wrong person, it could lead to a forest fire. That's why this shit needs to be regulated. Too many morons."

Tsukasa puckered his lips. "So, you planning on reviving all the morons?"

Senku frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying, I think we can both agree that _some people_ pose a danger to the lives of others. They contribute nothing and only leech off of others to live."

Senku raised an eyebrow. "Okayyyyy, you're going off on a rather wild tangent there."

"Stay with me."

Senku refocused all his attention to what Tsukasa was saying, which was getting kind of hard with all the alcohol in his system.

"I have a theory," Tsukasa said, tilting his head back, "and you may not like what I'm about to say, but I have a theory of what might have happened to us."

Senku smirked. "Do go on. You're handsome when you talk theory."

Tsukasa snorted. "Okay. This green flash of light, the petrification," he waved his hand around, "whatever you call it. Was all Nature's way of restoring our planet."

Senku frowned but stayed silent.

"Think of it as the Biblical Flood. Noah was among the few humans spared; the few humans found _worthy_ of living on." A dramatic pause followed. " _You_ are the only man to break free from the stone on your own. And you proved yourself worthy by developing a method to revive other people."

"I'm flattered you're comparing me to Noah," Senku chuckled.

"Hold on," Tsukasa raised a finger, then pressed it to his full sinful lips. " _Before_ this world was encased in stone, our planet was being torn apart by greedy go-getters who were willing to trample on anyone. What if... this petrification thing is the earth's defense mechanism? What if _we_ got brought back _for a reason?"_ Tsukasa looked real solemn as he said those words. "Call me crazy, but I believe we have a purpose here. And our purpose is _not_ to restore things to the way they were, but to _change_ things."

"Hmmm.... and what changes do you propose?"

"I want to create a place where friend groups just like ours can go into the woods and have a bonfire, without anyone pestering them with permits. I want to build a society where kids can play on the beach, and collect all the seashells they like, without some grumpy old man claiming the shells as his own property."

A rueful smile appeared on Tsukasa's lips. Senku didn't really know what to make of it.

"I want a world where you and I can live peacefully, without some hateful boor coming in, telling us we _must be with_ women."

Senku puckered his lips in deep thought. "Aren't you... taking on too much? You know, setting your goals kinda _too high?_ We're short on manpower as is. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure if we can rebuild civilization to what it once was, much less bring about the type of changes you wish to make."

Tsukasa smiled enigmatically. "As you said earlier about the leadership, _someone has to_ take it on, so why not me?"

Senku narrowed his eyes. "But you're trying to tell me... that _some people_ shouldn't be _revived."_

"Is that such a radical idea?"

Senku toyed with the hem of his own tunic. "Depends _whom_ you're sentencing to death."

Tsukasa smiled broadly. "All property owners."

" _Why?"_

"Because they are the driving force behind capitalism, a system so broken it's beyond repair," said Tsukasa. "Capitalism doesn't work."

Senku shook his head in disbelief. "It _has_ worked for hundreds of years."

Tsukasa snorted. "I see you've got quite the good grasp of hard science, but you kinda skipped over sociology, _...and_ economics."

Senku grinned. "That's because the soft sciences are utter garbage. That's why they're called _soft science:_ they're for people that are soft in the head."

But Tsukasa didn't rise to the bait. He simply smiled magnanimously and said: "Let's each focus on our own tasks. I will do my best to achieve my goals, and you work hard to make your dreams come true; okay Cheetah?"

Senku disentangled himself from Tsukasa. He was left with the foreboding feeling that their differences had _not_ been ironed out, and that this _would_ turn up again and become a problem in the future.


End file.
